(indieWIRE: 01.23.02) —The Directors Guild of America announced its fivenominees for outstanding directorial achievement in feature film yesterday,giving “Memento” a major shot in the arm. Sophomore feature filmmakerChristopher Nolan was nominated for the best director award alongside a hostof seasoned directors. Joining Nolan are Ron Howard for “A Beautiful Mind,” Peter Jackson for “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” Baz Luhrmann for “Moulin Rouge,” and Ridley Scott for “Black Hawk Down.”

The nominations will certainly give Oscar prognosticators something to chewon. The DGA passed over Robert Altman for “Gosford Park,” winner of theGolden Globe award on Sunday night. It also overlooked David Lynch for“Mulholland Drive,” Joel Coen for “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” and Todd Field for “In The Bedroom,” to mention a few of the movies that have been big this awards season.

Reached yesterday as he was finishing the mix on his next feature,“Insomonia,” Nolan was expectedly honored by the nomination. “I amincredibly delighted, its a huge honor,” Nolan told indieWIRE yesterday,“Particularly because it is an award given by other directors and the DGA.”

The director explained that the new project, a studio effort that stars AlPacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank, is set to open on Memorial Day. Among the psychological thriller’s executive producers are Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney.

“Memento,” Nolan’s $4 million follow-up to “Following,” has already earnedmore than $25 million at the domestic box office. “(It) definitely exceededour expectations,” Nolan added during our conversation, “(The nomination) isa wonderful confirmation of how broad and how wide the reach for the filmhas been.”

The awards will be presented at the 54th Annual DGA Awards Dinner onSaturday, March 9th in Los Angeles. [Eugene Hernandez]

>> ASC Picks Top Cinematographers

(indieWIRE: 01.23.02) –The American Society of Cinematographers hasannounced its five feature film nominees for the ASC Outstanding AchievementAwards. Selected this year as the top cinematographers are Roger Deakins for“The Man Who Wasn’t There,” Bruno Delbonnel for “Amelie,” Andrew Lesnie for “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” Don McAlpine for “Moulin Rouge,” and John Schwartzman for “Pearl Harbor.”

“Movie fans and even critics tend to look for striking images when theyjudge cinematography,” commented ASC President Steven Poster in a preparedstatement. “We were judging how effectively each cinematographer served thestory, the vision of the director, and performances of the actors.” Theaward winner will be announced in Los Angeles on February 17th. [EugeneHernandez]